So I’ll just begin with what happened. Last Saturday morning at 10:46am I was apparently called and left a short voicemail. I never heard my cellphone ring and never even got a call log from said number. My cellphone is always right next to me or in my pocket during weekends as that’s when I get calls from my relatives on the other side of Canada. So, obviously being so far from home, I keep it on me not wanting to miss that. I’ve no idea how I wouldn’t have noticed it at least vibrating. The voicemail also doesn’t have a number or name for the “Sent by,” portion. In fact, there was nothing. My voicemail has an option to re-play both the sent by and actual message parts separately. Sent by is completely blank for a split second, and the message just contains some guy saying “1 4 6 8,” and quiet rushed I might add. I’m no stranger to scam or bot callers. I used to get plenty when I first got my number and mid last year I installed an app that blocks known scammers. And it seemed to have worked since I’ve now only received 2 since then. One being some “Oh you have a lawsuit pending” and now this 1-4-6-8 thing. So I deleted it and went on with my day shortly after listening to it on early Sunday. This didn’t actually work. About a half an hour later, my phone showed I had an unread voicemail. Thinking I some damn way missed a call from one of my grandparents, I listened to it. And here we actually get into it. Listening to the voicemail, it was the same one as before. I just chalked it up to my phone acting like the piece of trash it is and messing up somehow. So, I went to delete it again. But before I did I realized how the voice was saying it. I thought I miss heard it and, for one reason or another, played it again. Same blank ‘sent by’ but the message was slower. Noticeably so from first hearing it. Yet again I deleted it, and yet again it showed back up later as an unread voicemail. But it did remain the same pace. 4 times I tried deleting it. Each the same. I again chalked it up to my phone malfunctioning and went on with the day. I went to bed shortly after and remember being slightly sad I didn’t receive a call from my grandparents (I don’t have the best plan, so they have to call me since it’s out of my province). That’s what I thought happened at the time anyways. On Monday at 1am I woke up from my phone vibrating beside my head. Strange to get a call so late, sure. But I set my phone aside on my ‘nightstand’ of shorts so the charger reaches it. Stranger still is that it was on the pillow exactly next to my head. Ignoring that I picked it up and as soon as I did, it stopped. I missed whoever was calling and just went back to bed after seeing the time, placing my phone back on the nightstand and plugged it back in. The next time I awoke was from my alarm. I went to shut it off like every other morning. But I realized that it was, again, beside my head on the pillow. Shrugged it off as me moving it in my sleep and proceeded with my morning routine. Breakfast, teeth brushing, getting dressed, and so on. After I was wide awake I checked my phone to see if whoever the hell called me at 1 left a message. Sure enough, there was definitely a new message. More than one actually. 14 new messages. Four-fucking-teen. Each and everyone was the same god damn “1 4 6 8” message repeated over and over in different paces. Some so fast I only recognized it form the voice, some slow enough they must have has 10 second gaps between the numbers. And two of them were slow in the regard that he spent more time saying the numbers, rather than pauses in between. Weird, and slightly creepy, I didn’t see what I could do about it. Before getting ready to head out I looked up to see if anyone else had something similar happen. Nothing showed up, and nothing meaningful with the number either. I didn’t bother trying to delete them. And so, I went on the my day. However, all throughout it my phone buzzed in my pocket. Stopping only after I had put it in my hand and with a new voicemail notification. Just because I thought I might be finally losing it, I got a friend to listen to some of them too and he confirmed that he heard the same thing as well. We both thought it was weird, and after he said to just delete them, I tried. I wiped all of my voicemails. And almost straight after, my phone rebooted. That does happen from time to time but the timing of it didn’t help. It rebooted fine and I quickly checked the voicemails before heading back to work (I work for a shipping company. Both sorting and delivery). Nothing at all. So, I again assumed that for some damn reason my phone was going spastic for awhile. That was until I got a call while out for delivery. And again, as soon as my hand touched the phone it went silent. And a new message was left. I told it to “fuck off already,” and went on with my deliveries. You may have seen this coming, but, one of my last deliveries was at a house marked ‘1468.’ It made me feel weird thinking about it. But the package was just some small Amazon thing, so I could technically just leave it at the door or in the mailbox if it got weird. As I got out of my truck and started walking up the path to the patio, my phone buzzed. Stopped. Then buzzed. Without me touching it. My normal notifications don’t buzz during my work hours, but my ringtones do. As I got closer it buzzed more frequently. I ignored it and just went up to the door. Once I did knock though, as you can guess, it stopped. No answer. The lights were on so I knocked again, and a bit louder. Still nothing. So I just left the package in the mailbox and turned around heading back to my truck. As I did though, I noticed my phone was laying in the middle of the damn pathway. I remember being thoroughly confused but I’d had enough weirdness and just wanted to finish my day. As I bent over to pick it up, and thank god it wasn’t cracked or anything, I heard the door behind me quickly open then shut. Turned around and saw the package gone, and headed straight for my truck without another thought. That was enough for one day. That’s how I’d have liked it anyways. When I got back home after work my friend Aaron was waiting for me outside my flat. He was worried about me and said he had tried to text me but I didn’t give him an answer. Which I just said I was at work, and opened my place up letting both of us in. To which he replied “The whole weekend? And what’s up with the weird dial tone?” Confused, I asked him what he meant. He explained he tried texting me throughout Saturday, and when I still hadn’t replied he called me a few times Sunday. But when he did all he got was an answer after the first ring and a loud “tone” coming from my end. He tried calling today with the same result so he came to check up on me in person. And he waited about and hour or so outside for me. I tend to shutout people from time to time due to depression, and he was rightfully worried I might be doing that again since I’ve been feeling off for awhile now. But while he was waiting, someone else came by my place. More specifically, the cops. My grandparents had called a wellness check on me and thus they were sent. The land owner was called before hand and let them in. I live in a studio so it wasn’t hard to see I wasn’t there. My landlord had called me as well, just to get the same result as Aaron. Only with a higher pitch. I’d later go to the cops and explain my end. I used a station phone to call my grandparents and went on with things. Since it was late an officer offered to drive me home, and it being a half an hour walk I agreed. Almost at my house I heard something over dispatch involving the ‘1468’ address I was at earlier today. Though I couldn’t make out much and didn’t want to raise suspicion by asking the officer. I got out of the squad car, thanked the officer, and went to go inside as she drove off. As I did I noticed a package at my door and something scratched ON my door. The package was from Amazon by the looks of it but with the outside lights still being dead I couldn’t see much of it or the carving. I ignored the package and opened my door. The god damn numbers 1-4-6-8 were scratched on it horizontally, and I swear to god that package was the one from the delivery that day. I closed and locked my door from the outside and went to a neighbour to call an officer back here. I told them my address, then that some numbers had been scratched on my door and a mysterious package was left outside. The one that showed was actually the one who had dropped me off, along with a partner. They went inside my place to make sure no uninvited guests where inside and then spoke to me once everything was clear. Despite not wanting to sound like a raving lunatic, I told them what had happened with my phone and even the weird delivery I had at 1468. I could see the disbelief during certain parts. I showed them the voicemails I had and even got one of them to call me using my neighbours phone to confirm the odd tone and me not even getting the call. The other officer, that partner, had “inspected” the package left for me. He opened it. To the anger of the other officer. All that was in it was a holiday card. Addressed to me. Creepy, yes. But not as much as the picture attached. It was someones arm or possibly leg, with the numbers cut into them. They looked fresh as well. And... it gets worse. Whatever limb it was, that picture was definitely taken in my bathroom, on the sink. It was safe to say that after a long talk with the police, and everything that had happened today, I didn’t want to stay at my place. I again used the stations phone and called Aaron to ask if I could stay at his place for a bit while this was sorted. He agreed, and an officer drove me to his place. Again, the same female officer. That gets important later.
Credits: Darko Pendragon